Lasciel the Destroyer
|image = lash-wiki-image.jpg |image-size = 250px |image-caption = Protrayed by: Richard Armitage and Katrina law |Created By= Alistair |status= Active |Gender=Male/Female |Age= 4000+ |Species= God/Goddess |Position= God/Goddess of Chaos |affiliation = Caelum, The Pantheon}} "I used to think the worst possible thing would be a rigid world. An ordered world, with no room for freedom or growth or free will. I think now that I was wrong. I think a dead world might be worse." Lasciel, also known most commonly as The Destroyer, is one of the original Twelve of the Pantheon, and the God or Goddess of Chaos. In this capacity, Lasciel may hold the title for "Most Poorly Understood" of the gods, for Chaos is neither a force for good nor for evil, but an agent of change, evolution, and free will. Of course, most change is painful, at least for some, while it's happening. Since Lasciel has been known to appear as a man or woman depending only on whim, various texts refer to Chaos as a "him" or a "her", with little consistency. The Origins of Chaos It is well-known among those with schooling in the history of the Gods that each of the new members of the Twelve was, at some point after their creation, given leave to select for themselves what would be known as their Domain. While most of the young gods chose easily defined aspects, the Sun, the Moon, the Seas or the Green, Lasciel chose the aspect of Chaos. It was a broader domain than most would suspect - within it can be found elements of destruction, reformation, free will, and of course entropy. It is a choice that would seem strange to most. Lasciel set himself up with very little to call his own. Chaos does not create, it can only change, and this left him to meddling with the domains of his brothers and sisters, oftentimes ruining their careful plans and drawing their ire or even their fury in a few cases. Lasciel, however, saw in that first major choice what most would have missed. If all of them chose a domain that could be safely played with, independent of the others, with each of them exerting total control within their tightly defined sphere, their destruction was inevitable. Either they would somehow infringe on one another's territory and fall to squabbling again, or the world would become rigid, unchanging, and eventually fail. He chose his domain not just for his love of change, but because it was necessary. Of all of them, he was best suited, and it is a duty he has given himself to for the rest of his existence. Not, of course, that Lasciel has always treated it as a solemn task. Quite the opposite, in many cases. Naturally, whatever her intent, Lasciel is best remembered for the worst of what she has done. Fairly or not, the Destroyer tends to take at least some of the blame for most of the bad things that happen in the world, from wars to plagues to natural disasters (even though many of these are the fault of her siblings). And even Lasciel would admit that this isn't far from the truth. Her whole life has been spent adding that element of uncertainty to the plans of others, and of course this means that plans sometimes fail. If these plans are small, there is little consequence, but if they are large... well, one has to only look at the War of the Gods and Fae for an example of just how badly the plans of gods can sometimes end. A History of Things Going Poorly Perhaps even more than the other members of the Twelve, Lasciel has been involved in a wide variety of events throughout the course of history, though her hand in matters is not always overt. The Early Years Like the rest of his family, Lasciel had a hand in the creation of the world. Of course, his interests were somewhat different - he ensured that living creatures would be possessed of free will, that all systems had the room to grow and change. It was sometime early on that he began taking a female shape frequently - probably at first due to a dare from Philia, though he had never been one to keep a single shape for long. He explored his relationship with the others and had his share of arguments - only a few did he never have cause to fight with. As the years went on, there were times Lasciel grew weary of his inability to create, when it was so large a part of the lives of his siblings. And so he began collecting (sometimes stealing) artifacts of power and life from each of the Pantheon, until he gathered enough to combine with his own power, and for the first time create a life. The child would grow to become the messenger of the gods, known as The Gossiper. The Fae War While it was never exactly proven that Lasciel had anything to do with the rebellion of the Fae, it was never a leap for anyone to suspect that she had - after all, it was that element of unpredictability, free will, that had led to it in the first place. While she originally meant to stay out and let chaos take its course, she was eventually convinced by her closer siblings to join the battle alongside her family, and so she did, sewing chaos in the ranks of the Fae armies. Toward the end of the war, in the aftermath of a terrible tragedy, she visited Sage, and the two of them combined their powers to create a new guardian of temples. Her name was Lamia, and Lasciel would come to think of her as a daughter - never one to be deterred by the monstrousness or lethality of a creature from loving it all the same. At the end of the war, Lasciel devoted much of her power to helping scour Ga'Leah clean before the new species were created to repopulate the world. The New World While the rest of his siblings performed grand acts, making great names of themselves, Lasciel generally contented himself to walk among the humans and other creatures of the world, learning and nudging circumstances toward change everywhere he went. He was a participant or at least an observer in all the major wars and most events - both those that ended well and badly, but his influence was almost always subtle. As such, it is hard to say how much credit - or blame - belongs to the Destroyer for the course of human history. Some believe his absence from the greater affairs of the gods was out of anger or disappointment following the banishment of his sister Adora. Lasciel has taken on mortal followers from time to time, some of them important - though for several years his closest mortal confidant has been the queen Ravenna. He gave her the opportunity to save herself, and she took that gift of potential power and took herself from nothing to become the Queen of Calladahn... something that makes Chaos quite proud. The Blight When the Blight was unleashed upon Ga'Leah, Lasciel was nowhere to be found. The Destroyer remained entirely absent from the world for months, until weeks after his sisters Ceren and Lyrielle had died. Lasciel appeared in a forest on the outskirts of Dokrayth, confused and without his memories. He wandered aimlessly for days, lost until Philia found him on the edge of the blackened sea. She was able to remind him of much - their family, who and what he really was, and give him comfort until he was able to put enough of the pieces together. After they parted to seek out the rest of their family, Lasciel sought out some of his brothers and sisters, and later found his son Ratatoskr in the mountains near what had once been Caelum. As the God of Chaos gradually put himself back together, he began working in the world again - first, he would deal with some of the oppressive situations plaguing the refugees fleeing the Blight. After that, who knew? Lasciel had always found plenty to do, and though he took no joy in it, and was distraught at the deaths of his sisters, in a world such as this, there was plenty for a god of Chaos to do. Personality and Relationships Those who have the chance to know Lasciel find the deity to be generally pleasant, if often distracted-seeming, Lasciel loves his family especially, and can even be doting where it comes to his favorite mortals. It saddens him somewhat that the majority of the world misunderstands the necessity of what he does, but he's never let this stop him. As such, even those he cares for can be well advised to keep on their toes. As far as family goes, Lasciel gets along best with those whose domains overlap his the most, and who have shown him appreciation in the past. He has a close relationship in particular with Philia, with whom he has always had a natural affinity. Lasciel and Sage have gotten along for much of their lives (with a few instances of squabbling), and created Lamia together, who is their 'daughter' - naturally this has brought them closer. The majority of the rest are frequently annoyed by his games, but tend to tolerate him as one does an annoying brother. He does have a more contentious relationship with Helios and Lyrielle, however, who have little to no appreciation for his meddling. Lasciel and Sabel however are close for a different reason. While they are very different people, they share something important: they each possess abilities that can harm or destroy their own family.... and they both know what it is to spend their lives being careful they do not do so. Of course, like any (non-terrible) parent, Lasciel loves his children especially. Of course, there are only two, he has always doted on Ratatoskr and Lamia, whose creations were as unlikely as any bit of chaos he ever managed to produce - and to his mind, perhaps the best tricks he ever played on the world. As far as humans and other races go, Lasciel views them each differently, and tends not to think any better than the others - in the ways that matter to him, after all, there is little difference between humans and fae. Lasciel takes few priests, but those he does take are kept close, and each has at least a few personal encounters with their deity. Ongoing Threads Creation Through Destruction (Past - Fae War) - Lasciel comes to Sage with a proposition - the pair pool their powers. There's a naga in the works... A Royal Favor - Lasciel appears to his favorite mortal, Ravenna, for a pleasant evening, and to make a request of her - her participation in a plan that Lasciel thinks just might prove to be key in saving Ga'Leah. Old Gods, New Glory - Selene's baby shower! And a reunion for the gods of the Pantheon. Of course, Lasciel and Ratatoskr set it up without anything in the way of permission, but then, it wouldn't have been like them to just ask. We All Have our Scars - Lasciel and Philia do battle with the Blight and come to terms with some of their own limitations.